Feed-cutter



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(No Model.)

0. B. WHITE. FEED CUTTER.

No. 592,855. Patented Nov. 2,189'7..

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(No Model.) V I C.- B. WHITE.

FEED CUTTER. N0.'592,855. Patented'Nov. 2, 1897.

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UN TED STAT S PATENT Prion.

CYRUS B. WHITE, OF ORANGEVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

FEED-CUTTSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,855, dated November 2, 1897. Application filed December 31, 1895. Serial No. 578,919. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OvRUs B. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Orangeville, in the county of Columbia andState of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Feed-Cutter, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to an improvement in feed-cutters, and has for its Object to simplify and improve the general construction of machines of the class referred to with a view to adapting the same to cut the fodder, hay, or straw, as the case may be, and in the case of fodder to tear and crush the same after it has been cut up by the knives and before it is discharged from the machine, thus producing a superior grade of ensilage or resultant material which will be softer and more easily eaten by cattle.

Other detailed objects and advantages of the invention will be developed in the course of the subjoined description.

The invention consists in certain novel featu res and details of construction and arrangement of parts, whereby advantages in point of simplicity, ease of operation, andefticiency are attained, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and finally embodied in the claim hereto appended. I

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a feed cutter constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a plan View ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation taken from the lefthand side of the machine. Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal section throughthe machine. Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section through the machine, taken inline with the feed-rolls. Fig. 6 is a detail side'elevation taken from the right-hand side of the machine with the gear-wheels removed and the cutter-shaft and the lower feed-roll shaft in section. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective View of the verticallyadjustable double concave. Fig. 8 is a similar View of the longitudinally adjustable ledger-blade. Fig. 9 is a similarview of one of the guide-sockets for the removable front board of the machine, the front board being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 10 is a detail plan View showing the manner of throwing the feed-rolls out of action, also showing the application of a sprocket-wheel of different size to the upper feed-roll shaft. Similar numerals of .reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a suitable frame upon which the feed-trough and various parts of the machine are mounted. This frame comprises in its construction a pair of elevated longitudinal timbers 2, arranged in parallel relation to each other and spaced apart a distance regulated-by the width of out which it is desired to give to the machine. The feed-trough 3 is supported upon the timbers 2 and is of any usual or preferred construction, being shown as having the usual converging sides for compacting the material as it progresses toward the cutting-cylinders. At its inner end the trough 3 is provided with a deflector 4, superposed above such inner end and adapted to direct the material as it is fed to the cutting mechanism. At the inner end of the feed-trough is located a pair of feed-rolls, 5 indicating the lower feed-roll, which has a smooth peripheral surface and works through an opening in the bottom of the trough, and 6 a toothed or spiked roll arranged above the smooth roll and having its peripheral surface covered with numerous teeth or spikes, preferably of pyramidal form, the points of said teeth being adapted to operate normallyin proximal relation to the periphery of the smooth roll. The=smooth roll is journaled in stationary bearings on the machine-frame, while the spiked roll is journaled in eyebearings 7, each of which is provided with a downwardly-extending curved stem or shank 8, which passes through one of the framebars 2, and is provided beneath the same with a surrounding tension-spring 9, and also at its extremity with a winged nut 10, by means of which the tension of said spring may be adjusted. The shaft of the spiked or toothed feed-roll is itself mounted in and adapted to slide longitudinally of an oppositely-disposed pair of upwardly and rearwardly extending segmental guides 11, the curves of said guides 11 and the stems or shanks 8 being struck upon a common circle.

By means of this construction the upper feedroll is capable of yielding automatically to accommodate the thickness of the material passingbetwecn the rolls and is moved across the discharge-mouth of the cutter-box. The are of the circle upon which the guides 11 are struck is primarily derived from the rearmost shaft of the machine or the shaft from which the upper feed-roll directly receives its motion, as will hereinafter appear, so that the said feed-roll will not be thrown out of gear when it yields to accommodate the feed.

Arranged just in front of the smooth feedroll 5 and depending from the floor of the feed-trough is a stationary transversely-disposed board 12, constituting the rear wall of an intermediate hopper 13, into which the cut material is discharged. This hopper is also defined by stationary side walls, as shown, and by a removable front wall let, slidably seated in socket-pieces 15, secured in vertical disposition to the inner surfaces in Fig. 4. This removable front board is provided with shoulders 16 for limiting the downward movement thereof, and its upper end lies within an arched hood 16, pivoted, as at 17, to the machine-frame and extending over and covering the cutting-cylinder 18. By rocking the hood 16 upon its hinge the front board ll may be removed and replaced, as desired.

The cutting-cylinder 18 is mounted in bearings on the machine-frame and is located at the upper end of the intermediate hopper 13, its shaft 19 lying approximately in the horizontal plane of the meeting-points of the feedrolls 5 and 6, above described. The cylinder 18 preferably has two spirally-disposed knives 20, arranged diametrically opposite and operating against a stationary ledger-blade 21. The active face of the ledger-blade is located normally in the circumferential plane of the cutting-cylinder knives, while its upper surface is arranged flush with the floor of the feed-trough, as shown in Fig. 4. The ledgerblade is also provided at each end with slotted rearward extensions 22, which rest upon the frame-timbers 2, clamping-bolts 23 being passed through such slotted extensions and frame-timbers, whereby the led ger-blade may be advanced toward the knives 20 for the purpose of taking up wear and bringing the rotary knives and stationary blade into proper working relation.

In the bottom of the intermediate hopper 13 is arranged a pair of crushing-rolls 2i, mounted upon transverse shafts suitably j ournaled in the machine-frame by means of an glebrackets 25. The shafts of the crushing-rolls are geared together by means of spur-gears 26 upon their adjacent ends, so as to rotate simultaneously in opposite directions. The crushing-rolls 2-1 are provided with similar pyramidal teeth upon their peripheral surfaces which cooperate with similar teeth on a double concave 27 to tear and crush the fedder, so as to make it soft and easily eaten by cattle. The concave 27 has its upper toothed surface reversely inclined or curved to correspond approximately to the shape of the crushing-rolls, the central ridge or vertex of said concave, which is of inverted-V shape, being located in a vertical plane passing midway between the said crushing-rolls. At each end the concave is provided with depending slotted extensions 28, through which clamping-bolts 20 pass into downward extensions 30 of the machine-frame. By means of this construction it is possible to adjust the double concave vertically and bring the working surfaces thereof into the desired relation to the crushing-rolls for adapting them to tear and mash the fodder, either slightly or eonsiderably.

It will be understood that the crushing-rolls turn toward each other from the top an d carry all the fodder across the concave, finally discharging the same from the machine.

of the side walls of the hopper 13, as shown An important feature of the present in vention is the provision or means just described for tearing and crushing the fodder after it has been cut, so as to produce a superior grade of ensilage sufficiently fine and soft so as to be easily eaten or chewed by cattle, and in the accomplishment of this result the particular formation of the concave 27 is of special importance. The two crushing-rolls 24c, as well as the concave 27, are provided with teeth of a pyramidal form, which form t of teeth insures a tearing and crushing of the i fodder without a further cutting thereof, and 3 by reference to Fig. '7 of the drawings it is i to be observed that the concave is provided at its crest or vertex with relatively large teeth, while the teeth at each side of the crest or vertex gradually and progressively diminish in size toward the opposite side edges of the concave. The larger teeth of the concave at the crest or vertex thereof lie in the space between the two crushing-rolls and project in sufficiently close proximity to the rolls to insure a tearing and crushing of the fodder at the initial point of its movement between the concave and the rolls.

Motion is primarily imparted to the machine by means of a belt from any suitable power running overeither memberor rim of a double pulley and combined fiy-wheel 31, which is fast upon one end of the shaft 19 of the cutting-cylinder, the said rims 31 being of different diameters, so as to provide for varying the speed of the machine. Upon the opposite end of the cutting-cylinder shaft is fixedly mounted a sprocket-wheel 32, from which a sprocket-chain 33 extends around a sprocketpinion 34, fast on the end of one of the shafts of the crushing-rolls 24, whereby the latter are driven. Upon the same shaft 19 outside of the sprocket-wheel 32 are fixedly mounted two spurgears 35 and 36, the outside and larger one of which meshes with a spur-gear 37, loosely mounted upon the extremity of the shaft 33 of the smooth feed-roll 5. The

spur-gear 37 has a crank-handle 39 rigidly attached thereto, by means of which the machine may be driven by hand-power, when desired. the shaft 38 of the smooth feed-roll is a spur gear-wheel 40, which meshes with and is driven by the small pinion 36 on the shaft of the cutting-cylinder, motion being thus imparted to the smooth feed-roll 5. The gear 40 meshes with and drives a similar gear 41, fast on a transverse shaft 42, arranged beneath the feed-trough, the latter shaft having feathered upon its opposite end a sliding sprocket-wheel 43, from which a chain 44 extends to and around a sprocket-wheel 45, fast upon the adjacent end of the upper spiked feed-roll shaft 46. The segmental guides 11 being described on the arc of a circle of which the shaft 42 is the center it will be seen that the upper feed-roll is capable of yielding or being adjusted without interfering with its operation.

47 designates a guide-pulley for directing the drive-chain 44.

The sprocket-wheel 43, as above stated, is feathered upon the shaft 42 and capable of sliding longitudinally thereof. The said sprocket-wheel has a grooved lateral extension or hub 48, adapted to be engaged by one end of an intermediately-pivoted shipping fork or lever 49, mounted on a fulcrumbracket 50, secured to one side of the feedtrough. The grooved hub 48 of the sprocketwheel 43 is also formed with a clutch-face 51, adapted to engage a transverse pin- 52, passing through the extremity of the shaft 42. The sprocket-wheel 43 may thus be thrown into and out of engagement with the pin 52, and consequently the shaft 42, by vibrating the shipping-lever 49, and the engagement between said sprocket-wheel and the pin 52 is normally preserved by means of an expansive spring 53, interposed between the shipping-lever and the frame of the machine or feed-trough.

The construction last described enables the force-feed rolls to be immediately thrown out of operation when required, which serves to relieve the necessity of choking down the feed and also enables the operator to avert serious Inside of thegear 37 and fast on' sprocket shown in Fig. 2. Interchangeable sprockets of varying diameters may be used to advantage at this point for varying the rapidity of feed of the rolls 5 and 6.

By means of the construction above'described a combined fodder cutter and crusher is obtained which will cut hay and straw equally as well. The machine may be used also as a simple cutter by detaching the drivechain 33, so as to throw the crushing-rolls 24 out of operation and by removing the front slide-board 14, thus allowing the cut material to be discharged above said crushing-rolls. By reason of the particular form of gearing shown and described the crushing-rolls are driven at relatively high speed, and the machine may be operated either by hand or power. The toothed or spiked and positivelydriven yielding feed-roll 6 is also found decidedly advantageous over the ordinary longitudinally fluted or corrugated roll. Gonsidered as a whole the feed-cutter is exceedingly light-running, is capable of being adjusted to the particular kind of material operated upon, or so as to cut the same with any required degree of fineness.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- In a feed-cutter, the combination with the cutting cylinder, its actuating mechanism, and the pivoted hood covering said cylinder, of a trough or hopper underlying said cylinder, a pair of positively-driven toothed crushing-rolls journaled in the bottom of said trough or hopper, an adjustable concave located beneath said rolls, provision for throwing said rolls out of operation and a remov-v able front wall to said hopper the sameconsisting of a board sliding vertically in grooves in the opposite sides of the machine-frame, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CYRUS B. WHITE.

Witnesses:

O. R. MELLIOK, Jos. W. EvIs. 

